Gaddi
𑚌𑚛𑚯, गदी Gaddi 𑚌𑚛𑚊𑚯, गदकी Gaddki 𑚌𑚛𑚮𑚣𑚭𑚥𑚯, गदियाली Gaddiyali 𑚡𑚤𑚢𑚵𑚪𑚯, भरमौड़ी Bharmauri
The word "Gaddi" written in Takri script
Native to	Himachal Pradesh
Region	Trigarta[1]
Ethnicity	Gaddis
Native speakers	181,000 (2011)[2]
Language family	Indo-European Indo-Iranian Indo-Aryan Northern Western Pahari Gaddi
Writing system	Takri, Devanagari
Language codes
ISO 639-3	gbk
Glottolog	gadd1242
ELP	Gaddi

Gaddi (also called Gaddki, Gaddiyali or Bharmauri; Takri: 𑚌𑚛𑚯, 𑚌𑚛𑚊𑚯, 𑚌𑚛𑚮𑚣𑚭𑚥𑚯, 𑚡𑚤𑚢𑚵𑚪𑚯) is an Indo-Aryan language of India. It is spoken by the Gaddi people primarily residing in the Bharmour region of Chamba district and the upper reaches of Kangra district in Himachal Pradesh. It is also spoken in neighbouring parts of Jammu, with Gaddi villages found in Udhampur, Kathua and Doda districts.^[3]

This article contains Indic text. Without proper rendering support, you may see boxes or letters that did not properly join into syllables instead of Indic text.

The language has traditionally been written using the Takri script.^[4]

Phonology

Dialects

There are four dialects of the language:^[5]

• The first one is spoken in the entire Bharmaur, Chhatrari and Bhatyat Tehsils of Chamba and Gaddi speaking regions of Kangra district.
• The second one is spoken in consists of Piyuhar, Belaj, Guun, Bakani, the upper part of Mehla and Kaded, etc.
• The third one is spoken in the region of Basu and other adjoining area.
• The fourth one is spoken in Lilh and Paho.

For a list of words relating to Gaddi language, see the Gaddi language category of words in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Status

The language is commonly called Pahari or Himachali. Some speakers may even call it a dialect of Dogri. The language has no official status. According to the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), the language is definitely endangered category, i.e. many Gaddi chilanother adjoining areag Gaddi as their mother tongue any longer.^[6]

The demand for the inclusion of 'Pahari (Himachali)' under the Eight Schedule of the Constitution, which is supposed to represent multiple Pahari languages of Himachal Pradesh, had been made in the year 2010 by the state's Vidhan Sabha.^[7] There has been no positive progress on this matter since then even when small organisations are striving to save the language.^[8]

References

Further reading

• Preeti Kumari; Shreya Mehta; Anjali Nair; Anusuya Nayak; Yangchen Roy; Vyom Sharma (2026). A Grammar of Gaddi. UCL Press. JSTOR jj.32222164.

External links

• Gaddi grammar sketches Archived 2023-01-29 at the Wayback Machine